A Place to Stand
Roselyn had been living in a state of constant self-doubt.
At its core, it was a doubt directed at herself. She questioned the research she conducted, its ultimate value, and the very survival of the Magic Tower.
Merchants traveled treacherous roads to sell rare goods and receive a fair price. Some believed they gouged prices and exploited the poor, but at the very least, they did not take another's wealth by force.
Soldiers laid down their lives to fight when their territory was in danger. Though they might appear to idle away their time during peace, they ultimately bore a duty.
The duty to be the first to charge toward the enemy when everyone else fled.
But research-oriented mages? They were people with no reason to exist in this world.
They analyzed the components of rare magic stones and dissected the structures of everyday spells. While that might represent monumental progress to a select few, to the vast majority of humanity, it was nothing more than a useless luxury.
A ship sturdy enough to be passed down as a national treasure to seafaring folk was merely a slightly solid wooden building to those who lived inland.
Roselyn was a gazer of stars. She lived among the stars. She was someone who yearned to explore them.
She was the kind of person who rejoiced in laws and discoveries that non-mages could never comprehend, desiring them endlessly.
Thus, she knew all too well. She knew that others did not understand her, and that the discoveries and research she held dear looked like mere garbage to everyone else.
She could not bear the gulf between those realities. Her eyes were always stretched toward the stars, yet her physical body remained anchored to the earth.
She could not lift her head without eating. She could not open her eyes without drinking. Ironically, to pursue what the people of the earth deemed meaningless, she had to exploit those very people.
Therefore, Roselyn's desires were always classified as something to be suppressed. Everyone thought so, and even she herself believed it.
The priests of the Holy Order viewed nobles who spent their fortunes on useless "magical research" instead of sharing with the poor as greedy, extravagant, and foolish.
Roselyn could not bring herself to refute them.
The lord she served still supported the Magic Tower, but he sought to cut funding at every opportunity. He used countless excuses and circumstances to downsize their operations.
The research she truly wanted to conduct, the colleagues she thought would walk with her for a lifetime—all were ruthlessly cut and discarded. Simply because gold was scarce.
She had to learn to endure. She had to learn to suppress, shave away, and tolerate her own desires.
After all, the people she had to please were on the earth. To gaze at the stars even a little longer, she had no choice but to hide her desire to look at them forever.
"Do not deceive yourself."
And then, someone appeared who validated her.
Everyone had told Roselyn to deceive herself. They insisted that the support she received was already more than enough, and that she should be grateful for what she had.
She had believed she would never succeed. Because she knew so well that she was looking at the stars, she thought she could never create anything that would satisfy those standing on the earth.
"Join me."
But he did not think that way. The Lord of Arcteria, Edrin Silverline, did not believe that.
His gaze was neither that of someone looking at a luxury item, nor that of someone looking at a tool.
Even if he did not fully comprehend the "stories of the stars" she babbled about, he empathized with every single emotion contained within them.
Is he... also looking at the stars?
She had believed no one would ever understand the beauty and mystery of mana. Even if such a person existed, she never expected to find them outside the Magic Tower.
Yet Edrin had listened to her stories of the stars with a happy smile, showing not a hint of displeasure.
The fact that her desires were acknowledged by an ordinary person, that he believed in her, made her incredibly happy.
She, who had expected to be lonely for the rest of her life, who thought she would have to crawl on the ground once she stepped onto the earth despite looking at the stars, felt as though she finally had a place to stand tall.
He had promised her a future. Though she had never received a marriage proposal, she believed no man's proposal could ever shake her heart as deeply as this.
Roselyn closed her eyes.
She could see the stars.
Roselyn had accepted my proposal in the end.
It would cost an astronomical amount of money, but she and her mages would eventually come to Arcteria.
Still, if possible, I'd like to bring them over without spending too much.
If Roselyn were someone whose research had luckily succeeded in the past, the lord who currently held her would demand a massive price to let her go.
However, if he had never once profited from her research and regarded it as nothing more than the "expensive plaything of a noble lady mage," the story would be quite different.
The lord would likely try to hand her over as if dumping a burden. He would view someone else taking over a liability he thought he had to bear as a massive gain in itself.
But this wasn't a problem I could solve by worrying about it right now. Even if her lord held onto her tightly and refused to let go, I was determined to bring her here by any means necessary.
If I had no opportunity to contact her at all, that would be one thing. But since I had the chance to meet Roselyn face-to-face this early on, I couldn't let her slip through my fingers.
"Whew..."
"Did... did really nothing happen yesterday?"
Serena looked at me with eyes heavy with exhaustion.
"I told you, nothing happened. Weren't you listening from outside?"
"I was."
At first, I wondered if she was being obsessive, but a highly amused smile was playing on Serena's lips.
She looked as if she were smirking, thinking, A man and a woman of prime age went that far, and absolutely nothing happened? Really?
"It sounded like you were talking about some difficult magic... How did you know all about that, my Lord?"
"Do you think I actually know? I was just empathizing with her."
"Still, you are handsome, Young Master. Wouldn't it have been easier to just seduce her and ask, 'Won't you become my concubine?'"
Honestly, considering my Charm stat, seducing her through romance might have been the easier, simpler choice.
However, that approach had its limits. If I started treating multiple people as my "lovers" instead of just one, complications would inevitably arise down the road.
"Didn't you say just yesterday that 'it's not the time for romance' or something like that?"
"...There is a past that you do not know, Young Master."
I had no choice but to nod. Come to think of it, Serena was someone who knew the Edrin from before I transmigrated.
Even if she recognized that I was a different person now, she wouldn't have looked favorably on the playboy "Edrin Silverline" summoning a woman to his room at night.
"Anyway... I think it's time to send the envoys back. Is everything ready?"
"Yes... Yes! I'm a bit sleepy, but I'll manage somehow!"
"Good, good."
After encouraging Serena, I sighed and reviewed my plans for the future.
What I needed right now was talent. Capable people who could utilize the territory's overflowing resources in the right way.
Eleonor and Valerian wouldn't covet my territory for the time being, but they weren't the only enemies I faced.
Though weaker than Eleonor or Valerian, there would still be other territories threatening Arcteria.
To stop them, I had to seize control of the territory's administrative system and reorganize the military.
But as for reorganizing the military... my direct involvement isn't immediately necessary.
Irene was someone I could trust. At least, as long as we shared the goal of doing what was "for Arcteria."
Until the moment she perceived my actions as detrimental to Arcteria, Irene would remain my most reliable ally.
She possessed the greatest military talent among the people I could currently employ, and there was no alternative who could replace her right now.
While I had no intention of letting her hold onto power forever, I couldn't afford not to utilize Irene at this moment.
Setting that aside, the most urgent issue was administration.
The vassals who originally served Wilhelm might have been corrupt and incompetent, but at least they were the ones who had been doing the job. However, they had all been purged by Irene, and their places were filled by those who served her.
Since Irene's faction consisted mostly of commoners or knights, they couldn't fully take over and run the administrative duties.
Therefore, I needed someone to do that work in their stead. Someone with a high Politics stat.
But...
No matter how much I could draw out the maximum potential of a person, I couldn't make those who lacked potential in the first place perform beyond their limits.
Even if I could recruit any talent as long as I met them, I couldn't just summon people who hadn't even set foot in Arcteria by writing them letters.
So, I had to work with the people currently available.
I would have to sift through the remnants of the vassal faction and pick out those who were at least somewhat usable.